Buyer's Guide · 2026
Don't Just Look, Inspect
Buying a home is probably the biggest cheque you’ll ever write — and the law expects you to look properly. This is your room-by-room guide to viewing a property: what to open, what to test, what to ask, and when to call in a professional.
Written & verified by
Cara Hendricks
Conveyancing Attorney
Cara is a conveyancing attorney who helps buyers, sellers and agents understand the legal side of property in plain language.
Heading to a viewing? Take our print-and-tick checklist with you so nothing gets missed on the day.
1Your job as a buyer
You have a genuine duty here — not just a good idea, an actual legal expectation. The law assumes that before you buy, you will acquaint yourself with the property: open things, test things, ask things. This is your duty to inspect, and it exists whether or not the seller says a word.
The disclosure form is not a warranty. If an agent is involved, the seller fills in a Mandatory Disclosure Form listing defects they know about — but it is a snapshot of what the seller says they know, nothing more. It does not replace your inspection, and in a true private sale it may not even be required. Don’t outsource your homework to a form. Your eyes, hands and nose are the real tool.
2The one bit of law worth understanding
There are two kinds of problems a house can have, and the difference decides who pays later.
Patent defects
The stuff you can see on a reasonable look — cracked tiles, a broken window latch, damp stains on a ceiling, a wonky gate. The law expects you to spot these. If you don’t and buy anyway, that is on you. This is what your inspection is really about.
Latent defects
The hidden stuff a normal inspection wouldn’t reveal — a leak behind a freshly painted ceiling, rising damp behind a built-in cupboard, an illegal extension. The good news: if the seller knew and deliberately hid it, the voetstoots (sold as-is) clause does not protect them, and you may have a claim.
Why it matters: inspecting properly is how you catch the patent stuff before you are committed, and spotting warning signs of the hidden stuff tells you where to push, ask harder questions, or call in a professional. It is your best defence — and your strongest negotiating tool.
3Room by room: what to look for
Bring your phone (torch and camera), wear clothes you don’t mind kneeling in, and go in daylight if you possibly can. You want to see.
Water is a house’s worst enemy, and these rooms are where it shows first.
Kitchen & bathrooms (where the money hides)
- Open every cupboard, especially under the sink and around the geyser. Look for water stains, warping, a musty smell, or fresh paint hiding something. Feel the back panels.
- Flush every toilet. Does it flush strongly and refill properly? Any wobble in the bowl? Water pooling at the base?
- Open the taps, hot and cold, everywhere. Check water pressure (a limp trickle upstairs can mean a bigger problem) and watch that sinks drain fast, not slow.
- Run the shower and bath. Slow drains hint at blockages; cracked or missing grout is how water gets behind tiles and rots the wall.
- Look under and behind appliances. Dishwashers and washing machines leak quietly for years.
- Check the geyser: its age, any rust, whether it looks recently replaced (and if so, why).
Walls, ceilings & floors
- Look up. Ceiling stains, sagging, or fresh paint in one patch is a classic cover-up for a roof leak.
- Check corners and skirtings for damp. A tide-mark near the floor is rising damp; a patch high on a wall is usually a leak from outside or above.
- Cracks: hairline cracks are usually cosmetic. Cracks wider than a coin’s edge, or running diagonally from window corners, need a professional’s eye.
- Walk the floors. Bouncy or creaky boards, tiles that sound hollow when tapped (they have lifted), or sloping floors are all worth noting.
- Smell. A musty smell no air freshener hides usually means damp or mould somewhere you cannot see.
Doors & windows
- Open and close every door and window. Do they stick, jam, or not latch? Sticking doors can be paint — or can signal the house has shifted.
- Check frames for rot (wood) or rust (steel), and look for condensation between double-glazed panes (a failed seal).
- Test the security: burglar bars, gates, alarm, electric fence. Ask if they work and if there is a certificate for the electric fence.
Electrics
- Flip every light switch and test a few plug points (bring a phone charger).
- Look at the DB board. Is it a modern board or an ancient fuse box? Scorch marks or a burnt smell near plugs is a red flag.
- Ask about the electrical Certificate of Compliance (COC) — the seller must provide a valid one at transfer.
Outside — don’t skip this
- Walk the whole boundary. Look at the roof from the garden: missing tiles, sagging ridge lines, patched-up sheets.
- Gutters and downpipes. Blocked or broken ones dump water against the walls, which is where damp starts.
- The ground slope. Does rain run toward the house? That is a problem.
- Boundary and retaining walls. Big cracks or bulging is expensive to fix (this is literally where “voetstoots” comes from — giving the wall a push with your foot to test it).
- Pool, borehole, irrigation, gates, garage doors. Test that they actually work, and ask about the age of the equipment.
- Trees close to the house — big roots crack foundations and drains. And look for pest signs: droppings, gnaw marks, ant or termite trails.
4The things you can’t see (so you have to ask)
Some of the most expensive problems are invisible on a walk-through. Flag them with questions and, where you’re worried, a professional inspection.
Building plans
Does every structure — garage, granny flat, that lovely extension — have approved municipal plans? Unapproved work is a latent defect and can become your legal headache after transfer.
Solar, boreholes & anything “added on”
Every fixed improvement raises the same two questions: was it certified, and did the municipality permit it? For solar, battery or inverter systems, ask whether the system was registered and authorised by the City and whether there is a valid Certificate of Compliance — in many metros (Cape Town included) a grid-tied system that was never authorised is treated as illegal, and if it isn’t resolved before transfer, that cost becomes yours. For boreholes and wellpoints, ask whether it is registered and whether the City gave permission when it was sunk. If the seller can’t produce the paperwork, make it a written condition of your offer — not a “we’ll sort it out later”.
5Questions worth asking
Write these down and take them with you.
About the property’s history
- How long have you owned it, and why are you selling?
- Have you ever had damp, a roof leak, or a burst pipe? When, and how was it fixed?
- Has there been any structural work, and are there approved plans for everything?
- Any recurring problems: drainage, pests, boundary disputes with neighbours?
About the paperwork (ask for these in writing)
- Can I see the Mandatory Disclosure Form? (Remember: it is a starting point, not a guarantee.)
- Are the compliance certificates in order — electrical, plumbing/water, gas, electric fence, and (at the coast) the beetle certificate?
- Are the approved building plans available for all structures?
- Is there a solar or SSEG Certificate of Compliance, and was the system registered and authorised by the municipality?
- Is the borehole or wellpoint registered with the municipality, and was permission granted when it was sunk?
- For a sectional title or estate: what are the levies, are special levies coming, and can I see the body corporate/HOA rules and financials?
About the running costs & neighbourhood
- What are the monthly rates, levies, and average utility bills?
- How old is the roof, the geyser, the pool pump?
- Anything currently broken or “on the to-do list”?
- What is the area like at night and over weekends? Any planned developments, traffic, noise or flooding history nearby?
6Red flags to trust your gut on
A room you are rushed past, or a cupboard or door you are told “doesn’t open”.
Fresh paint in only one spot, especially a ceiling.
Strong air fresheners or a dehumidifier running — what is it hiding?
A seller or agent who is vague about repairs, plans, or why they are selling.
Every viewing scheduled for the same time of day (avoiding morning damp? evening noise?).
7When to bring in a professional — and negotiate in writing
For anything expensive-to-fix and hard-to-see — the roof, the foundations, serious damp, or a home that’s older or altered — spend a bit on an independent home inspector. It costs a fraction of the problem it can catch, and their report is real leverage when you negotiate.
Negotiate, don’t assume. Under a voetstoots sale, silence means you accepted it. If you want a defect repaired or the price dropped, put it in the offer, in writing, as a condition. A verbal “they said they’d sort it” is worth nothing after transfer.
This guide is general information to help you inspect a property properly. It isn’t legal advice — property law and disclosure rules differ by situation, so for anything specific to your purchase, check with your estate agent, conveyancer, or attorney.
Still have questions?
This guide is general information to help you inspect properly — it isn’t legal advice. For anything specific to your purchase, ask our resident attorney Cara — or get an instant answer from our assistant.